Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Scratchin' my head...

Just an update on the raffle. Firstly, goat kisses and smells to all who have entered..really. It helps so much.

I will try to write this as politely, and eloquently as I can. If you sense a fume here or there, forgive me.

Today I received an email from Paypal telling me that my art "raffle" for Guinnias is in violation with their terms of service. It seems they feel my "raffle" is a lottery and is gambling. They told me to take their logo/pay button off the blog post about Guinnias.

"Well," I thought, "Paypal has always been reasonable for me, surely when I call and explain to them what this is, they will understand."....not.

After some effort to find their phone number, and get through the voice system to a real person, I spoke with a pleasant enough woman who seemed to understand the silliness of the situation, but had no solutions. So I asked to speak to a supervisor. This supervisor's name was Rich - when I asked for his last name I was told he can't give me his last name. "But you have my last name," I said. "Yes, but I have your last name because when you signed your agreement to be a Paypal member which allows me to know your last name."

Begin scratching head here.

Back and forth we went. He kept using the word "lottery" instead of "raffle". "Look, this is not a "lottery". This is [insert louder voice here] a raffle to help a senior goat!!"...

I finally gave up. I was told I should contact a person within the complaints group, explaining my 'organization's mission and business numbers." This would give me permission to have - gasp, art raffles for old animals- in the future using the all important Paypal button.

"Look, RICH [emphasize caps], I'm one middle aged dirt farmer with a 16 year old goat who has an abscess the size of your head on his ass and it's about to blow."

OK, I did not say that...instead, I said, "send me the email, goodbye", because at that point, I knew my friend Rich had no real interest in helping me, or my old goat.

What sort of creeps me out is there's some department in Paypal where some guy, or gal, is googling all day for the word, "lottery" or "raffle" and then they click that link. Picture it, this person clicks on my link to the Guinnias raffle, and stands up and screams to the cubicle city he probably works in, "Eureka!! I found a hot one - a farm in Oregon having raffles for an old goat!! We got 'er now. Let's shut 'er down!"

So, I have taken down the PP button. But you can still enter the raffle if you'd like. by mailing me a check

Isn't it silly?? We must just focus on the good of those that have given. From my googles, it appears they just go after a blanket search for the word "raffle" and condemn every one.

SO, to answer Paula, I was able to take all the money gathered so far into my bank account. And I did all the controlled requirements that they asked me to do [like promise to abide by their rules, which I thought I was]. And I'm still able to collect money and use my account, they are just threatening me with abolishing my account if I ever, god forbid, have a another 'raffle' for old goats, or old pigs, or old worms.

For this, instead of a raffle, why not sell a small (um, raffle ticket-sized) work of art? It could have an old goat on it! I could say, Guineas's Good Karma Buckaroo! It could be collectible. Well, maybe it could work without being too complicated. Your fan,

You must gain permission to re-use any images, words or photos from this site. You can use the 'share' feature to show an entire link, but you can't take my images/words and use them without permission or negotiation.

Help Apifera help more creatures

We have matching donation from the J&J Stanley Foundation for up to $10,000